“Haven’t you guessed?” Her eyes were blazing with anger and recklessness as she finished punching in the number. “He wants to help her? I’m going to let him do it and help us at the same time. And if he doesn’t want to do it my way, I’m going to see that he does it anyway. He’s going to fill in all the blanks and give us our chance at Norwalk.”
“Oh, shit,” Joe murmured. “Kaskov?”
She nodded. “Kaskov.”
*
It took Eve fifteen minutes to break through the circle of three “assistants” to get through to Kaskov, and by that time she was more on edge than ever. But after expressing her displeasure to someone called Nikolai, Kaskov came on the line.
“What a surprise, Eve,” he said. “How long has it been? Sorry to keep you waiting, but you caught me at a bad time.”
“I’m sure you know exactly how long it’s been,” she said. “Because that’s how long you’ve been using the fact that you helped to save my life and that of my son to pressure Cara into those visits with you.”
“Pressure? Cara will tell you I exerted no pressure. It’s just that she understands that debts must be paid, and she possesses that rare quality known as honor. I have no idea where she acquired it.” He added mockingly, “Certainly not from me.”
“But you’ve taken advantage of it.”
“I believe you realize that I will always seize the advantage to get my way. I have a certain reputation to uphold. Cara understood that from the night she asked me to help you.” He paused. “But I don’t believe that you called me to discuss either my practices or morals, did you?”
“No, but I think my call caught you off guard, and you were scrambling to find out any information you could to maintain the upper hand. That’s why you kept me waiting.”
“Quite right.” He sounded amused. “You’re very important in Cara’s life, and I wanted to be prepared. You’ve kept yourself very distant from my arrangement with Cara.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said bluntly. “I tried to talk her out of it.”
“She never told me that. But then she’s very protective of you, and she doesn’t really trust me.”
“Imagine that,” she said dryly. “So what did you find out while you were keeping me waiting?”
“Not enough. Oleg Sakov hasn’t reported in to Nikolai since early this morning. All was well at that time. It made me a bit uneasy. But Joe Quinn is far more competent than Sakov, and I’m not really concerned about Cara.” He paused. “But this call indicates something disturbing that I should probably address.”
“You’re damn right,” she said. “We found Sakov with his throat cut earlier today. I received a call from the man who did it and attacked Cara. You told Cara you had nothing to do with that attack, but you did.”
“You’re wrong,” he said quietly. “I told her the truth.”
“Oh, you had something to do with it,” she said curtly. “And so did I. Cara believes you, so I have to do it, too. But that wacko who’s responsible has targeted both of us, and that means we both did something to piss him off. It’s logical that it’s tied together.”
“You and I?” he said mockingly. “What good company I’m keeping. However, since Cara will surely blame me if you get hurt or killed, it would be wise for me to remove you from the equation.”
“That’s not going to happen since my family has been threatened, and so has Cara,” she said grimly. “So we’re going to continue to keep company until we catch that son of a bitch and my family is safe.” She went on quickly before he could reply. “I’m going to play my phone call from Norwalk for you now. You listen and see if you recognize the voice or if anything he says strikes a chord.”
“As you command. I’ll record it, too, for further review.”
She started the recording and leaned back in her chair. She glanced at Joe, sitting across the room. “I know you want to jump in and talk to him yourself.”
“You bet I do.”
“Not now. I’m right, Joe. He understands targets and also that Cara will be upset if he doesn’t listen to me.”
“I know.” He smiled. “I’ll have my turn.”
“No question.” The recording had finished, and she went back on the line. “Did you recognize his voice, Kaskov?”
“No. Heavy Irish accent. I would have remembered it. But I’ll let my men listen to it and see if they recognize it.” He paused. “Crazy. You’re right, he’s wacko. He’ll be dangerous to handle. He won’t care.”
“And I think he has some kind of master strategy or something. He’s been planning this for a long time.” She sketched in the connection with Sylvie and Darcy. “That’s what I was asking Norwalk about.”
“And the reason Jock Gavin hopped a plane for Nice,” Kaskov added. He was silent for an instant. “You handled this poorly, Eve. You let him see how frightened you are. Men like Norwalk drink fear in like blood. It excites them, and it’s addictive. They want more and more.”
She knew he might be right. She’d been able to sense Norwalk’s intense pleasure as he’d threatened her. “He made me angry.” Admit it. “And, yes, he frightened me. Michael, Cara, Joe … No one is safe from him. He will do it, Kaskov.”
“Yes, he will. I have no doubt of it. So what do you want from me, Eve?”
“I want you to find out what he’s planning, and why, and how I can stop him.”
“The stopping is easy,” he said coolly. “I’ll kill him. The finding and trapping is what’s difficult. Norwalk has a head start, and he’s not stupid. He managed to confuse the issue, and hide his agenda for quite a while.” He was silent. “And as far as you’re concerned, he wins every time he takes out anyone you care about.”
“And wouldn’t he win out over you if he took out Cara?”
“Yes, but you can see I have a much narrower target area.”
Yes, she could see that. “But then you have a much narrower life.”
Silence. “It’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it? Your situation may prove complicated for us both. I suppose you wouldn’t consider sending Cara to me for safekeeping?”
“I’ve already been considering it.” She saw Joe stiffen and put up her hand to stop him from interfering. “It was my first thought when I realized she’d be in danger. You’re not the guardian I’d choose in a million years, but I believe you could keep her safe at that place in New Orleans. Jock said that estate where you live in Moscow is almost impregnable.”
“He should know. I believe he was planning an invasion at one point. So send her to me.” Silence. Then he added, “You have my word I’ll send her back to you when the threat is over.”
“Your word? I have no idea what that’s worth.”
“Neither do I. It ebbs and flows with the situation. But I think that I’d be forced to keep it in this case. Cara can be so difficult.”
“Yes, she can. Which is why I can’t send her to you. The minute she finds out what’s happening, there’s no way that she’d leave us. She considers us family.”
Another silence. “So I’ve been told. As you say, difficult. Will Quinn permit me to send another guard to the property? That will have to do until I find a way to persuade Cara that her allegiance should be with me.”
“I don’t see any reason why not. Except that you’ve already lost one man, and it may not do any good. Norwalk evidently had no problem taking him out.”
“And I don’t like that. Norwalk must be very good. Oh, well, I’ll find out.”
“You’ll do it?” she asked quickly. “You’ll find out what I need to know?”
“My dear, Eve, it’s also what I need to know, remember? It’s that advantage thing again. I’ll know everything there is to know about Norwalk in twenty-four hours. And hopefully neither of us will be dead in that time, and neither will anyone of importance to either of us. Will that be satisfactory?”
“I’m not certain. I don’t know if I can trust you to call me and tell me what’s happening. I believe your instinct would be to take care of Norwalk yourself.”
“Quite right. That might be the most efficient way.”